The Couple That Slays Together, Stays Together
by UrsaMaritimus
Summary: Rynn Woolf and her brother David had their own little group. They had supplies, ammo and a plan to get as far south as possible. When a salvage run takes an unexpected turn, they are rescued by the Atlanta group. Together, both groups learn to trust each other and face their post-apocalyptic world together. Daryl/FOC, Carol/MOC, eventual Rick/FOC Rated T for now, eventually M


So this is my first Walking Dead fanfiction. It will eventually be a Daryl/OC, Carol/OC and Rick/OC pairing (all different OC's, not just one OC getting arooound ;) ) and it will become a M rated fic, so if that's not up your alley please read something else as there are hundreds of other amazing stories and authors to choose from.  
>This first chapter will be introducing the OC cast and how they initially meet the Atlanta group. The moment when the two groups meet is the night just after Daryl impales himself searching for Sophia, who is alive for this story. Hope you all enjoy! They story will follow the TV show plot line and dialogue for the most part, except for changes to manipulate romances. I will try to have each update from here on out be an episode per chapter. If I'm feeling ambitious then maybe two episodes per chapter haha.<br>Anyways, welcome and enjoy.

Brief age bio:  
>Kathryn "Rynn" Woolf - 24<br>David Woolf - 33  
>Ellie Sebastian - 24<br>James Sinclair - 28

"Shit, shit, shit and SHIT!"

The moans, groans, growls and snapping teeth behind her, made Rynn move faster. She wove through the trees of the forest; a herd of zeeks closing in behind her. The backpack she carried, which slammed into her spine with every step, was sure to leave a nasty bruise. If only the dead moved slower.

"Hurry up!" Rynn's older brother David shouted back to her. "We're almost at the road!"

"I'm going… As fast… As I can!" She gasped back, keeping her hazel eyes glued to the back of his black shirt and similarly bouncing backpack.  
>Not looking at where her feet were falling, she didn't notice the dip in the leafy terrain until she dropped. Her momentum threw her forward, head over heels into the ground. When she came to a stop, she laid on her lumpy, can laden pack, while the sharp angles dug into her skin. Dazed she groaned and raised her left hand to a bump forming on the back of her head. In the distance she could faintly make out the sounds of frantic shouting. Her vision and other senses cleared just in time for Rynn to catch a zeek crawling on top of her. Its fingers gripped onto the front of her red tank and leaned its decayed face towards her neck, mouth open and teeth bared. Her left hand shot up from her head, clutching it around the throat; her fingers dug into the grey rotted flesh and blackish blood oozed around them. As its jaws and teeth snapped, its whole body weight supported by her left arm, her right hand frantically sought the hunter's knife strapped tight against her thigh. With her arm about to give way, her fingers brushed the hilt of the knife. Fear coursed through her body as she tried not to look at her assailants<br>"Stupid… Bloody… Knife!" Rynn grunted quickly tugging the knife upwards until she could grasp the hilt in her palm. With a sharp yank she brought her arm up and stabbed the zeek in the side of its head, right above its chewed ear. Its body went limp and collapsed on her with a thud. She pushed the newly dead undead off her and rolled onto her hands and knees. Three gun shots rang out and three zeeks collapsed not five feet from her.  
>"Fucking run, Rynn!" Her brother was on the road, maybe 30 feet away, gun drawn and aimed behind her. The herd was closing in and had gotten much louder; the shots agitating the zeeks.<br>"Start the damn truck!" Said Rynn as she pulled her knife from the dead head. She then staggered to her feet and took off, narrowly avoiding a zeeks grasp. With the burning in her lungs too strong to ignore this time, Rynn couldn't run as fast as before. From inside the cab of the truck her brother continued to fire bullets every time a zeek got too close for comfort. Which, at the speed she was going, was often. Finally she got to the road, tossed her pack into the truck bed next to David's and climbed in shouting at her bother to go. Four zeeks hit the side of the vehicle, banging on the now rolled up divers side window and gripping at the lip of the truck bed.

"Drive David! Fucking go!" Rynn screamed, scrambling against the opposite side. Inside the truck, David threw the gear into drive and slammed his foot onto the gas, propelling the vehicle forward down the road and leaving the walking dead behind.

Rynn sat silently against the metal of the truck, gazing out at the vibrant green and brown of the forest. She hadn't been that close to death since the beginning. They were always careful to avoid such large groups and overrun buildings. With a deep breath she laid her head back and ran her hand through her shaggy black hair, pausing slightly to check the bump she had received earlier. The pain brought her brain back to earth and the adrenaline faded. The bump on the head wasn't her only wound from this newest near death experience. She finally noticed a long gash on her right thigh, her jeans torn and bloody around it. Realizing that it must have happened when she had pulled her knife from its sheath, Rynn tore a part of her tank off and wrapped it around her thigh.  
>With that taken care of, she turned her attention to her brother. She climbed over to the passenger side and through the open window onto the seat. Glancing at David, their eyes connected and she could see the worry etched onto his face. Rynn studied him once he returned his gaze to the road. Before the world went belly-up she never saw much of her brother. With a nine year age difference they also never had much in common either. Yet once she had turned twenty-two and him thirty-one, the two started to bond more. Every Friday night he'd take her out for dinner and then to the gun range where he was an instructor. Every Sunday she would come over early to his house and make breakfast before her shift at the hospital. He was always so lively then. His brown hair short and well groomed, brown eyes soft and always studying everything they saw.<p>

Now, times had changed him. His hair had grown a couple inches and now clung limply against his sweaty brow, while his eyes had hardened. Dirt clung to his darkly tanned skin, the Cree in him had turned it a rich brown. Rynn had always been jealous about that. They had been adopted into the same loving family when they were babes. Not a drop of blood shared between the two of them. She looked away and peered at her own reflection in the trucks side mirror.

Her hazel eyes, shaggy boy-cut hair, blood and dirt stained face stared back at her. She placed a hand on her slightly rounded cheek thinking about her own past. About how all her life she had been over-weight and unfit, a prime target for bullies. This had never mattered to David though; he loved her no matter her size. Once she had hit twenty-two and 250 lbs. she decided to become more physical. David had loved that too, always taking her to the gym or inviting her to his bi-weekly kick-boxing sessions. Two years later she finally reached her goal weight of 175 lbs. So happy with her success she had invited her brother, her best friend Ellie and Ellie's fiancé James on a vacation in Hawaii. They were on a layover in Atlanta when all hell broke loose.

David cleared his throat, drawing her out of her trip to the past. Turning to him she saw he held a walkie-talkie and was offering it to her. She took it, turned it on and placed it on the dash while the sound of static filled the cab.

"You okay?" He finally asked.

"Yeah, the bloods not all mine," she motioned to her leg, "just this. Must've been when I grabbed my knife. Are you okay?"

He grunted, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Rynn shrugged and pulled her knees to her chest, "Dunno."  
>She was quiet for a minute. "That was the third herd."<p>

"I know, kiddo."

"We can't keep doing this David. There's too many dead around here. Three farms out of the five we've checked today have been overrun!" David frowned, eyes still scanning the road. He sighed before answering.

"We only have one more in this area and we can move on. Just on more, Rynn. We can do this."

"But I don't understand why we have to do this. We have more than enough food for the five of us back at camp and easily enough guns and ammo for ten people. How much more do we need?" This had been a common argument as of late between them. They didn't need to scavenge anymore; they could keep driving and make it to Mexico like they had planned. But David kept insisting they needed more.

"For the five of us, yes, you're right. But Ellie will be eating for two soon and winter is maybe only three months away. We need shelter and safety kiddo." He pulled the truck to the side of the road. Up ahead was a fork and an abandoned car sat on the shoulder of the road to the right. David got out of the truck and jogged over to the beat up vehicle. Rynn watched as he removed a vibrant orange flag that they used to mark their way. Useful when the sun went down and darkness reigned over. He tossed the flag into the back and climbed back into the vehicle.

"You picked up on that, huh?" Rynn asked quietly as her brother resumed driving, taking the path to the right.

"Yeah I picked up on it. A blind man could've picked up on it. She's been throwing up almost every day for the last couple of weeks." David pulled down the sun-visor, blocking the light from glaring into his eyes. "I've also noticed both you and James giving her half your portions at meals. You've got to stop doing that, kiddo. You need the strength. And don't tell me you don't." He added when he saw his sister open her mouth to retort.

"Well I don't David. I'll be fine on half rations for a while at least."

"Kathryn, I…"

"…n Blue team. This is Red team. Come in Blue team" A female voice cut through the static of the walkie-talkie. Rynn gave her brother one last look, then reached for the device. Pressing the button on the side she spoke into the front.  
>"Reading you loud and clear Ellie. This is Blue team."<p>

"Oh thank god!" Ellie gasped on the other end. "You're almost two hours over the meeting time. We were worried."

"Just a detour, that's all! Sorry!" There was a small pause. "Ellie?"

"What happened?"

Rynn groaned. Ellie always was good at reading between the lines. "Bit of trouble at the fifth farm. Ran into a herd on the way back."

She could almost imagine the look on her best friends face as she took that in. Her small pixie-like features all bunched up and her light green eyes darkening with worry. Rynn pictured her best friend in her mind, recalling the way her unruly red hair tangled itself about her head and how her tiny frame could be so dangerous in a hand-to-hand fight.  
>"Are you and David okay? You didn't get bit did you?" The worry thick in Ellie's voice.<p>

"David and I are fine; we're not bit either." A grunt from David had Rynn adding, "I may have sliced my leg open getting to my knife while killing a zeek though."

"Wow. You would." James' voice sounded this time, followed by a couple laughs before a grunt of pain.  
>"Back off James. But seriously, a herd? That's the fourth one in less than three weeks. Looks like one might've passed through here too."<br>"You've made it back to the highway then?" Rynn pulled a map of the area from a side pouch in the door. She opened it and located both the highway and the road that she and David were on.

"Yup. And it looks like a herd wasn't all that passed through. Some of the supplies we had left in the cars are gone plus there's something else." Ellie paused. "The group that took our supplies must've lost someone. They left a message and some supplies on the trunk of a car. James and I found it when the kid had a nap. The message is for a Sophia."

Rynn felt her heart drop. Almost a week and a half back they had come across a little girl, Sophia, who was all alone and hungry. After checking most of the surrounding area for her family, they had adopted her into their group and she had become very close with both Rynn and Ellie. Now it looked like Sophia's previous family had been here and looking for her. This complicated things.

"Shit." Rynn turned to David, silently seeking his advice. Ellie's voice from the walkie did the same.  
>"What do we do, David?" He was silent for a minute, letting his brain run through scenarios that were possible. When his face set into a grim frown, Rynn knew he didn't like the choice he was about to make.<br>"We do nothing."  
>"But…"<p>

"We'll check the last farm. But we are not going out of our way to find the corpses of these people. There were no signs of living people at the last few places. If we can see any signs from her previous group at the last place then we'll keep an eye out. Either way we're moving on tomorrow without Sophia knowing. She's one of us now and we protect our own."

Almost ten minutes after their discussion with Ellie, David and Rynn stopped by a couple broken down cars to syphon gas. The sun was getting low and the darkness of night was setting in. David did the actual syphoning while Rynn stood guard with a knife in one hand and a small hand gun in the other. She carefully scanned the surrounding tree line in search of zeeks.

"We're done here." David said as he stood up, a full canister of gas in each hand.

Silently they traveled back to their truck and arrived with no trouble just as the sun finally set. Shadows slowly crept across the ground as the moon rose, casting its light over the forested country-side. David stored the tanks in the truck bed, as Rynn retrieved a needle and thread from her pack. Both got back into the truck and resumed their seats. After clicking her seatbelt into place and David continued driving, Rynn tied the thread to the needle and gritted her teeth. If there were zeeks at the next farm and she needed to run, she'd rip these out. Quickly debating the pros and cons of stitching up her leg, she settled on the pros and moved the needle to the open wound. Her bother glanced over when he heard her sharp intake of breath, just in time to watch the needle slide from one side of her flesh on her thigh to the other and back out again.  
>She was almost done when her brother let out an exasperated sigh that caused her to snap.<br>"That is the eighth time you've done that. Do you have a problem?"

"Yes. You're doing that wrong." David looked over and gestured to her stitches. "I've showed you the correct way multiple times now."

"David I don't tell you how to drive and you… DAVID!" With his attention on his sister, David had slowly drifted the truck to the side. About to collide with then was an abandoned car. Her brother swerved the truck drastically to the left and Rynn felt David's side of the truck lift. Suddenly the truck was rolling, tossing its passengers around. When it came to a stop thirty feet from the initial roll, Rynn was unconscious.

Maybe five minutes later Rynn slowly came to. She opened her eyes and gave a pained groan. The truck was on its passenger side, the smell of gasoline was overpowering and she was hanging in place behind a deflated airbag. Her ears were ringing and the world was spinning around her. Barely feeling the cuts from the broken glass on her arms and face, she unbuckled her seat belt and collapsed against the ground. Rynn looked upwards to the driver's side, expecting to see her brother in a similar state as her; instead she saw an empty seat and a hole in the front window big enough for her brother to be thrown through. Panic set into her body, blocking the pain that seemed to scream from every limb.  
>Leaning back against her seat, she kicked the rest of the front window off of the truck and crawled out, cutting her palms and jeans on the glass. Rynn unsteadily got to her feet and scanned the area; glass and plastic from the truck was strewn everywhere. A moan from the side of the road, drew her attention. A zeek was stumbling out of the trees towards something in the grass with a hungry fervor. She leant down quietly and picked up a piece of glass as a weapon. With a shout to get the attention of her prey she quickly limped towards it.<br>In the grass a few paces away from the zeek, was her brother, face down and not moving. The zeek ignored her and knelt down, ready to devour David's flesh. Rynn gave a battle cry, forced herself to move faster and reached the creature before it could sink its teeth into David's arm. She slammed the shard into the zeeks head, slicing her own hand even worse than before. With a shove, the zeek landed on its side and Rynn took its place next to her brother.  
>"David?" She spoke softly, hoping he'd respond. She looked over his body and found a strange wound on his right side. Rolling him over she found the cause; the gear shift must have broken when they crashed and lodged itself in his side. Along with that, she could see scrapes and bruises appearing all over his arms and face. She could only guess what his torso looked like.<br>"Uugh" David moaned lightly when she grazed the gear shift in his side. His eyes fluttered and opened part way.  
>"Hey kiddo." He gurgled, a dribble of blood escaped the side of his mouth.<br>"Shut up, we've got to get you out of here." Her brain went into survival overdrive. A little bit away from them was the remains of their full six bags of supplies. She left her brother for a moment. Gathering up the worst packs and throwing them into the destroyed truck, she took the only two intact packs, slung them across her body to rest on her left hip. Rynn jogged back to her bother, her eyes hyperactively scanning the area.

"David, can you stand?" She asked softly, as she knelt down next to him.  
>"I can try." He groaned back. Carefully she pulled him forward and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, pausing every time David's pained moans seemed stronger. Once they were standing, Rynn slowly started to walk towards the woods with at least half of her brother's full weight leaning against her right side. She had looked at the map not even five minutes before the crash and if they were where she thought they were, the farm wasn't very far. She could only hope they would make it. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears softly and every so often her vision would swim; the crash had hurt her more than she had originally thought.<p>

"Why… are we going… through the woods?" David's laboured speaking was followed by a coughing fit strong enough to stop the two siblings for a moment.  
>"Because," she said, wiping a stream of blood from David's chin and moving them forward between the trees, "the shortest way from here to there is a straight line."<p>

They continued their slow journey for almost an hour. The moon was high in the sky, lighting up the trees and bushes in a way that would have been beautiful if Rynn was sure that David would not pass out any second. He had lost a lot of blood and his weight was leaning more and more onto her side with every step. As they had been walking Rynn had taken tally of her own wounds; a fractured or broken rib on her left side, her stiches had torn, her hands were shredded from the glass and there was a cut on her head that was leaking blood down her face. All in all, she was faring better than David but the weight of the packs and her brother had exacerbated everything.  
>Her chest screamed with pain every time she took a breath and her vision was now a consistent blur of color. Fear that they wouldn't make it kept her moving though. She had to save her brother.<p>

"David?" She gasped as they finally passed the edge of the tree line. "Do you… see that? It's… the farm. It… has lights on David!"

There was no reply, just his entire weight slipping from her grasp to land on the ground.  
>"David? DAVID!?" She screamed and dropped next to him. "No, no, no, NO! HELP, DAVID!"<br>Panic and fear clouded her judgement as she shook her brother's body and screamed for someone to help her. Tears mixed with the blood on her face and the pain from her wounds became too painful to ignore. She collapsed onto David's chest and her vision began to dim around the edges. Just before she sunk into the darkness that surrounded her, she thought she could see the figures of three people. Her last thought was that she hoped they weren't zeeks.

pg. 5


End file.
